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Interesting chapter RD. You did a great job with the action scenes, and I'm curious as to where you're going with the story.

Although... I'm a bit curious as to the "green-haired girl". Law of Conservation of Detail; you wouldn't bother with a description of any kind if she isn't going to show up later in some capacity, right?

Shiro knew that the battle was going to be hard. Lina never talked too much about the battles she had in the past, stating that she never wanted to think about how close she came to dying each time.

She never mentioned the fact that Shabranigdo could manipulate the ground around them to do whatever he wanted to do. Dodging out of the way of a pillar of fire, he cut through it with Ragudo Mezzagis and shuddered as it turned to dust after he cut through it. Hearing Shabranigdo chuckle, Shiro looked up at the Demon King and gaped he was surrounded by several yellow balls of energy.

When Shabranigdo waved his arm, Shiro found himself forced to twist and dodge as several yellow energy bolts struck out at him from all directions. "Nnngh!" He grimaced as his left shoulder was clipped by one. "Enough of this!" He growled as he spun his weapon in a circle, slashing through the blades, before spinning and slashing downwards, a wave of energy escaping from his blade, before he twisted and lashed out with the Lance of Light again, this time a wide arc of energy slammed into the needle thin energy beams that were striking out at him.

Growling as more energy needles appeared around him, Shiro closed his eyes and started spinning, slashing up, down, at various angles, tearing through the ground, the air hummed with power as more and more of the needles were evaporated.

Opening his eyes and panting slightly, Shiro looked around him and nodded. Other than the tears in the ground from his attacks, there wasn't anything around him, which he was thankful for. 'Getting old sucks.' Granted, he wasn't that old, but he was a bit older than his wife.

He then shook his head and wondered when he started to think of himself as old.

Raising his weapon above his head, he grinned as it started to glow brightly. "Ragudo Mezzagis, pierce him!" Swinging down, a powerful beam of energy lashed out and slammed into Shabranigdo's side with a bright explosion.

When the light cleared, Shiro grimaced as he saw no change in the Demon King's appearance. "Damn."

He was answered with several purple beams of energy that came from a creature that only had a head and a snake-like body. Spinning backwards, he cut the energy in half as it got close to him.

'This is going to take awhile.' The retired ninja thought to himself.

(---)

"Astral Bind!" Yuuno snapped his hand out as several rune circles appeared in mid-air and chains popped out of them, rushing towards Shabranigdo. The Demon King looked at him and his eyes flashed, causing the chains to stop in mid air before shattering. "No way!" Yuuno gasped in surprise.

"Nice try, but magic of that level would not even begin to harm me."

"No?!" Shabranigdo and Yuuno both turned to see Vita holding Graf Eisen in its Gigant Form high above her head. "Then, what about THIS?!" Sweat was covering her face as the weapon glowed a soft golden color. "TURN INTO..." She stopped as Shabranigdo raised his hand up and caught the weapon. "...light?" Vita meeped as Shabranigdo smirked and squeezed his hand, crushing Graf Eisen in his hands. "HEY!!"

"A powerful attack, no doubt the one you used to destroy Belselk." He opened his mouth as a red and black ball of energy formed there. "But this is my pillar, you are nothing to me!"

Vita grimaced and flew away as a giant red blast soared right through where she was a moment ago. "What was that?" It had the same feeling as that Nemesis Breaker that she had seen Reinforce use once before. Just a lot more powerful and a different color. Returning Graf Eisen to its normal form, she was relieved that her weapon wasn't completely destroyed. "I'm sorry, Eisen. Forgive me?"

"Ja."

Vita nodded before looking at Shabranigdo. "Damn, Rein, I don't wanna stress Eisen anymore." She returned it to its pendant mode around her neck. "You okay with that?"

Vita nodded and smacked her fist into her open palm. She wasn't sure what she could do, considering that most of her spells needed Graf Eisen, but she had a few tricks up her sleeve. "Shall we, Rein?"

"Right! Böe-Modus!"

Vita closed her eyes as her hat became silver, her dress became black where it was normally bright red and silver gray where it was darker in color. Vita opened her eyes again and looked at her gloves, which looked like gauntlets at this point. "Well, let's see if Shari's right about this Blast Mode..." A large metal sphere appeared in front of her and she pulled her arm back before punching forward, her metal covered fist connected with the ball and sent it flying at such a speed that it ripped through the horn on Shabranigdo's left side and crashed through the ground, leaving a giant crater.

Vita stared, shocked. Sure, she had used that Astral Vine spell that Reinforce taught her, but she never thought that the results of the attack would be that.

"I see..." Shabranigdo chuckled and looked at her while the other magic users were busy with more giant snake and Dragon-shaped appendages that came out of the ground at his base. "That's interesting." He held up a hand and pointed the palm at Vita. "Now you can just, ARRRGH!" He cried out as something struck his hand. "What the?"

He spun to see a woman with pink hair and a metallic flaming outfit pointing a bow at him. "Who are you?"

The woman didn't answer as she formed another arrow and fired it at him.

"You..." Shabranigdo growled at her and was about to do something when a burst of flame scattered in front of him. "That fire..." He spun to see Yuuno holding a ball of flame in his hands. "Holy?"

"TAKE THIS!" Yuuno yelled and lashed out with a giant blast of Holy magic right at Shabranigdo's face. The Demon King put his hand up, blocking the attack, though he was grimacing on his face.

Shabranigdo let loose a yell as he lowered his arm, just in time to take an arrow in his left eye. Screaming in pain, he turned back to the one who fired the arrow. "You will die."

"If I die, then at least it will be in a battle such as this." She said, wondering how she was able to hear him over such a distance before shrugging it off as one of his abilities.

Flashback...

"Signum!" Shamal stared as the pinkette stood up. "You're practically, hey!" Shamal found herself on her ass as Signum pushed her away. "What are you doing?"

"Dammit, Signum!" Shamal stared at the blood that was running down Signum's leg as the swords woman called forth her Blast Mode. "Get down here, you'll die!"

"I can't let them fight alone..." Signum panted as she notched an arrow and took aim. "If I can do even a small amount of damage, then I will. Fix the others first."

End flashback...

Signum panted, her vision was starting to get blurry. Shamal might have been right, but she couldn't let her friends and family die without at least trying to fight back.

Her vision went black for a moment. When she shook her head to see again, her eyes widened at the bus-sized ball of energy rushing at her. "...Too late..." She gasped, feeling her Blast Mode cancel out due to her injuries. "No..." She groaned, unable to really do anything as she was too tired and hurting too much. "Nnngh..."

The next thing she knew, the energy erupted in front of her, scattering into motes of energy. "Signum, you should get healed."

"In...Verse..." Signum nodded to Fate, who was in her Rubin Blitz mode. "Care...ful, he's strong."

Fate nodded as she gripped Bardiche in its thin blade form. Turning, she narrowed her eyes at the Demon King. "I just got healed, so, you go and finish getting healed. I would hate for you to be dead because you're as stubborn as the rest of my family."

Signum nodded and floated down to the ground. She blanched at the look Shamal was giving her. "Uh..."

"Get on the table and let me work on you, Reinforce has something for Hayate." Shamal shook her head. How was it that everyone was so freaking stubborn around here?

(---)

Fate took a deep breath and was charging up a spell in her left hand while she held Bardiche in her right. "Now..." The spell was clear in color and in the shape of a ball the slowly spiraled. Letting loose a scream, she slammed the spell into her blade, changing the color from yellow to clear. "Dimension Blade!" She rushed forward so fast that the world seemed to streamline itself. If she was to compare it to anything, she would compare it to how everything looked in the Star Wars movies when they went into hyper-drive.

Shabranigdo didn't know what happened to him, one moment his attack was cut apart, and the next moment, a deep gouge in his face appeared, causing him to cry out in pain. "That..."

The Mazoku Lord let loose a low growl as his aura exploded outwards from him, knocking Vita, Yuuno and Fate out of the air and forcing the mages on the ground away from him. "You will not win this battle!"

Bouncing off the ground, Vita grimaced as she looked up. Even with the Blast Mode she had, that had hurt all the way down to her bones.

'What the hell kind of monster are we facing?' She thought to herself.

I can't tell if they're doing anything worthwhile, I mean, they are hurting Shabranigdo but it doesn't actually seem to accomplish anything. Never mind, we'll get to it someday.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kuroi Hadou

Mirror. Or a clone. Or a time machine.

This is Nanoha after all, clones abound... kinda creepy though.

__________________

"The eyes are the windows that let us gaze upon the soul"

"When desperate there are two choices: Lock shields for the last stand or draw your sword for the final charge"

"There are no winners or losers, there are only the living and the dead."

Hayate rolled her eyes, trying not to glare at a certain laughing healer. She patted the dust off her knight armor, and stood shakily with her staff as a support. She looked at her fingers, then her legs.

Wobbly.

“And that would make eight to zero… Mistress Hayate, I could switch if you want to.”

Eyes rolled. Again. That would make… she was too occupied to remember the count. As usual, Signum was such a charmer. The situation however, required her full attention and she couldn’t spare time to spread some of her misfortune like virus. Her eyes landed steadily on those deep blue eyes, as if it hid a depth of ocean. He smirked.

The boy was incredible.

Hayate flexed her twitchy fingers, and readied a couple of trusty spells in her lips. Round nine was in bound, and she had ten seconds to prepare. A thought bubble popped into her head, then she cancelled all of it.

They would be useless anyway. Reunion had somehow predicted every move and countered her as mercilessly as would dogs hunting rabbits. Her tricks weren’t working.

This would be the fifth time she changed her tactics. She couldn’t remember the year she was forced to improvise so many times. Hayate counted down to three. Two.

One.

She flung her tome at his face, and leaped forwards. The short fifteen feet distance was covered in an instant.

The gasps came later, and she thought she heard Signum’s as well. She slashed horizontally with her staff, missed. Reunion had charged forwards instead of escaping, missing the blow by a hair’s breadth. His fists were ready.

She predicted that. Immediately Hayate threw up a barrier in front of her, and watched closely the boy’s shuffling feet. She would not be tricked by his crafty distractions again. Left, right, back, front, left. The well timed barriers were holding. In a battlefield she would be pulverized to dust, but she could afford to stand still one on one against a kid. In fact, he was so much faster he could trip her three times before she fell. She killed off the abominable memory immediately.

Back! Hayate spun around and swung her staff as quickly as she could, trying to catch Reunion at the thighs. It was an ideal hit spot to prevent escape by jumping or crouching. At the same time, she blew several magic orbs in an arc around her. If they hit him even once then I’ll –

Her eyes widened. The boy was nowhere to be seen. Hayate looked around frantically for a glimpse of Reunion, and failed to notice the shadow falling from above her head. However, she did saw where the spectators’ eyes are glued at.

“Gotcha!” She punched a stun beam upwards, and her eyes followed triumphantly. Sure enough, her magic struck the shadow square at the center and blasted it a few feet away. Hayate shook a fist and pointed at the fallen figure, “Finally! I mean, there’s no way I would… lose?”

It cannot be, but the figure she thought was Reunion looked like a human size rock. She squinted, rubbed an eye. It was still a rock. Then she felt something poking at her ankle. Hayate looked down.

Reunion grinned. The boy then kicked both her legs wide at the same time, and for an instant Hayate was reminded of gymnastics on TV.

“Yaaaaaahhhhhh!”

Such a peaceful Saturday morning.

-

The occasional sparring at the garden just scored a permanent zero in liking for Hayate. The sound of her bones crunching still reverberated clearly in her ears.

“Does it still hurt, Hayate?”

They were all in the living room, enjoying a quiet moment of harmony. Later, they would go out together to the city and do some shopping, but for now, all Hayate could do was to hold in tears as Vita rubbed some healing oil near her sore butt and thighs.

Her fall turn out to be mighty indeed. It has been three hours since, and Hayate still shook like a leaf every time she tried to stand up. She had to be carried into the house like a baby by Vita, who refused to let Shamal do the work. Hayate only knew too well why, and telepathically requested the healer to let Vita do whatever she can.

Despite Hayate’s sincere apologies and reassurances after returning to the household, Vita wasn’t looking the best of her conditions. In a way, it must have reminded Vita of the day she failed to protect Nanoha, even if it wasn’t her fault. Hayate felt terribly upset at the situation, and has been working to amend her wrongs since then.

How terrible I am to make her feel like this.

She felt a hand on her shoulders, and looked up. Reunion wore a solemn but warm smile on his face, and suddenly her worries felt lifted. She turned to watch the ever arguing Rein and Agito, sleeping Zafira, peacemaker Shamal, Signum who’s reading a newspaper.

“And… I’m done. It’s alright now Hayate – Uwa!” She threw her arms around the red knight and held on tightly; ignoring the feeble struggles Vita’s putting on.

“Vita,” Her cheeks rubbed against Vita’s, eliciting an almost unholy blush of red. Vita struggled a bit more, and then finally gave up.

“… What?”

“Just wanted to say… Thank you.”

Vita’s face turned even redder. She enjoyed the snuggling a little longer, avoiding the glances of her grinning family. Reunion nodded approvingly at the heartwarming scene, and began to turn away.

Hayate’s eyes twinkled. She immediately punched an arm at the unsuspecting boy with a terrible war cry, “I got you now you little – Wooaaahhhh?!” Reunion caught her arm almost lazily and executed a perfect Judo throw. Hayate was hurled halfway through space before she even knew it.

One reason was that the main cook was down. The others began groaning almost immediately when Hayate announced dejectedly that she was too dizzy to even hold the frying pan. Crashing into a cupboard full of books was apparently very detrimental to one’s body.

But there was a problem. Normally they would have just gone outside to eat dinner, but for some reason Hayate could not phantom, her knights were hesitating. Shamal was laughing a little too high, Signum coughed a little too frequently, Rein and Agito was not fighting… Even Zafira was pacing back and forth in front of her like a dog on heat. She quickly banished the idea with a swift mental cut. Not to mention that every time she tried to connect the word ‘dinner’ and ‘outside’, someone would immediately interrupt her.

They were trying to tell her something. She bit down her tongue and thought seriously. It was getting pretty late already, and soon if she doesn’t figure out what’s going on they might as well miss supper too.

Then she noticed something. A missing face. A missing voice. She mentally cursed herself for not noticing it earlier, and instantly made up her decision. Hayate stood up and began walking towards Vita. Her knight was hiding at a corner and staring at the floor with sad eyes, and did not notice her approach. Hayate extended a hand, and Vita looked up in surprise.

“Eh?”

“You’ll be cooking tonight. C’mon.”

“Eh? Eh? But I’m no good, I –“

Hayate paused for a second, feeling the pang of guilt eating her from inside once more. Vita was too afraid to even hold her hand, as if the gesture would admit her failures were never correctable. But running away would solve nothing. It was perhaps just a small step in everyone’s life, but it was still a step forwards.

So this time, she would not wait. Hayate grasped Vita’s retracting hand and smiled her greatest, “Don’t worry. This time, I’ll stay beside you and teach you all the way. I can’t really help much the way I am now, so you better do your best!”

Vita looked dumbfounded, disbelieving. Then she turned her face away with glimmers of tears and yelled, “What the hell are you people staring at? Go away! Just you wait, tonight I’ll cook the best meal you’d ever taste! Any complains are rejected!”

Family dinner proceeded rather smoothly; albeit a bit burned here and there but there was so much laughter and joy that it didn’t really matter.

-

“Reunion.”

Midnight. Everyone has gone to bed, and from the looks of it they’ll all resume their separate lives tomorrow. Hayate pretended not to know, but it was hard to miss how coincidentally their current timetables adjusted to hers. Now that she has proven herself to be fine, these short but homely weeks would surely to an end. It was good that she was able to solve her problems with Vita before that. Hayate didn’t want any lingering regrets.

There was one concern left, however.

The boy stopped right before his room with a hand already touching the door handle, and yet he made no attempts to open it. Hayate was leaning at the wall right beside him, hands folded.

“Ten zero.”

Silence.

“You’re a pretty special boy, aren’t you?”

A smile. He took his time to get comfortable before answering, “In a sense I am abnormal, yes.”

But Hayate shook her head seriously and said, “I did not mean it that way. To me you are Reunion, a good child whom I named and took in because of duty. But you are also my family,” She smiled a little and pulled the boy into a hug,
“So don’t ever call yourself abnormal, okay?”

“… Mm. Sorry.”

She placed a hand on top of the boy, feeling his heat. She thought the warmth very similar to the one from Vivio, and yet there was something different. Perhaps this was what it means to be a mother…? Fate… Nanoha…

Hayate took a deep breath and steadied herself, melancholy can always come later. It was time to mention her purpose.

“Reunion, there’s something I would like to ask.”

“Of course.”

She hesitated, but stirred gentleness into her tone and said, “I know you’re a mage, that’s obvious enough. However, do you have a Rare Skill? And if you do, did you… cast it on me?”

That was indeed her greatest doubt. Ever since her meeting with Reunion, Hayate was no longer plagued by the whispers. Terrible nightmares that haunted her day and night, maddening emotions, crazy impulses, the sense of slowly losing her very soul – they all vanished without a trace. And Hayate could not believe that.

It was simply too good to be true.

Reunion suddenly parted. Hayate sighed instinctively at the lost warmth, then caught herself and looked curiously at the boy. His face was hard as stone.

“Hayate… You are very perceptive. Smart. But above all that, you are also kind, which is why I like you a lot. So I would admit… Yes, I did cast my Rare Skill on you.”

She was worried, if not even alarmed. Those blue orbs of his were charged with such deep pool of sadness that Hayate didn’t know what to do. Comfort him? Hug him again? In the end she tried both, but this time Reunion took a step backwards as if to reject her.

“Reunion?”

He gave her a searching look, and then he looked resigned. Abruptly he opened the door and stepped into his room, which made the situation all the more confusing for Hayate. She wasn’t sure whether she should walk after him. Then she heard him said,

“I cancel my magic.”

What? But her worries were pointless. The next second she tried to say something, the world abruptly split apart, and she fell to the floor with both hands clamped on her mouth. Almost screaming, Hayate desperately tried to hold her voice in, and she didn’t know why. But she did realize with terrifying clarity the true colors of these violating tides of emotions that suddenly appeared in her chest.

They were back, far worse than before.

I’ll kill him. I’ll kill him for making me suffer this!

No!

So as she lay writhing on the floor, unable to withstand the onslaught of a million feelings that threatened to claw out of her heart, Hayate thought she heard something from Reunion. Then, darkness engulfed her consciousness completely.

i had the idea of a crack story where yuuno woke up and everyone was turned into kittens ala mass polymorph. course only he knows how to turn back into a human, noone else learned it

__________________

For those that belittle their favorite characters, complain about pairings, complain about oversexed images. Stop, thank you.

Fear Anxiety Doubt is but a fad. The life of a fad depends entirely on the willingness to support it. Difficulty is a choice. Determination is a path. Your next great idea after your destination is the true goal.